Simone
by pikapikatchu
Summary: When Nick's new girlfriend Simone gets jealous of Greg, she decides to do everything she can to save her relationship.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys!**

**Here's a brand new story of mine! I'm not sure why, but I really like this one and hope you will, too! I think this story might just be the right one to celebrate the CSI season finale next week - and especially the fact that the show's been renewed for a 14th season!**

**So enjoy and maybe let me know what you think about it!**

**Big Love,**

**pikapikatchu**

* * *

On this very early morning, Nick was getting ready to head to work. He walked around his home collecting the things he needed to get dressed. While putting on his shoes, he received a text message on his phone, vibrating on the nightstand.

"What are you doing?" Simone, the woman Nick was seeing for three weeks now, asked as she rolled over in bed to look at him. She had beautiful gray eyes, contrasting her olive complexion and her caramel brown, chin length, wavy hair.

"Sorry, got a text message from Greg."

"...Who else would text you, right?" she asked with a smirk and an ironic look. She looked him up and down as she propped her head up. "Didn't you say you had the day off? Where are you going?"

"That was the plan. But Greg called earlier, asking me to help out."

"...Greg again, huh? And you said yes? We made plans."

Nick sighed. "I know and I'm sorry, but they need me. You knew what you were signing up for when we started dating." He gave her a sweet smile as he kissed her.

"You're lucky you're so cute. "When will you be back?"

He looked at his watch. "I'll try to be home at four."

Simone looked rather confused. "What time is it now?"

"...Just a few minutes after 4 a.m."

"...What?! Oh Nick... It's way too early for me to be up..."

"Don't worry. You go back to bed, I'll go to work. Make yourself at home, order some food. I'll leave you some money on the table."

"You don't need to, I'll be fine..." She looked at him rather annoyed. She had been looking forward to spending the day with him.

"I'll come back as soon as I can, I promise."

* * *

When Nick arrived at the crime scene, Greg and Hodges were already deep into their work. Both men didn't even notice him walking up on them at first. "Hey."

"Hey Nick. Sorry we had to wake you up." Greg smiled at him.

"Russell wasn't too specific about what's going on." He was still a little tired as him and Simone stayed up rather late, thinking he'd have time to get enough sleep in the morning.

"Him and Sara have a tough case to work on and Hodges and I can't do this big scene on our own."

* * *

Russell and Sara entered the lab obviously exhausted. They were working on a scene with three dead kids and these cases were always the toughest. Russell walked into the evidence room where Greg and Nick were working on the evidences they collected. "Hey Nick," he said with a tired smile. "Thank you for helping out."

"Anytime, boss."

Russell patted his shoulder before walking out. When he left, Greg grinned at Nick. "So, made any plans for the day you had to cancel?"

"Yeah, actually... I did."

"...A date with Simone?" he asked nosy.

"Mhm."

"When will I get to meet her?"

"We'll see."

"How about we go for breakfast someday after work?"

"Uhm... Sure, why not."

"Great!" Greg flashed Nick a big smile. "Can't wait!"

* * *

In the next two weeks, Greg tried to arrange to meet Nick's girlfriend Simone a few more times, but failed every time. "So Nick..." he said as they were dropping off some evidence in the lab. "Simone does exists, doesn't she?"

"...What?" Nick chuckled. "What are you talking about? Of course she exists."

"Well it's just... You've been dating her for over a month now and I've never seen her." Greg shrugged as he put the bag full of evidence down.

"Oh really? Well, don't worry. She's real." Nick picked up some files lying on the desk and started reading them.

Greg gave him a look. "That's it? No explanation why you're keeping her from us?"

"Who says he's keeping her from us? I've met her." Hodges walked in, taking the files out of Nick's hands.

"...Hodges met her but I didn't?"

"He was there when she picked me up from work. It's not like I'm keeping you away from her," Nick said lying. He was, but he didn't want to tell Greg.

"So how about coffee next time she picks you up?" the young CSI asked with a hopeful smile on his lips.

"...Sure."

* * *

The inevitable had finally happened. Greg met Simone when she picked Nick up from work. They had a friendly chat for a few minutes, then Nick and Simone took off. The next day, Greg walked up to Nick, who was sitting in the break room. "Wow, she seems great. There's no reason for you to hide her."

Nick gave him a look. "Yeah, I know..."

"You know Sara's birthday is coming up. Bring Simone along."

Nick was getting a bit annoyed from Greg constantly trying to push this. "I don't think she'll come."

"Why not?"

Nick shook his head. "Forget it."

"What?"

"It's not the right place to talk about this."

"...About what? What's wrong?"

Nick sighed. No one but the two was in the room, so he decided to just say it. "She doesn't really like you."

"...What? Why not?"

"Well, I think she's a little jealous, you know? My work's taking up all my time and..."

"...and what?"

"...and she thinks I'm spending too much time with you..." Nick got off his seat to get himself another cup of coffee.

Greg chuckled disbelieving. "What are you talking about?"

"There have been a few times when she wanted to spend time with me but I already had made plans with you, you know? She's a little clingy and didn't like it."

"You could've said something."

"It's not just that. You have that uncanny talent of writing text messages at the worst times."

Greg gave Nick a look. "What, I'm interrupting your dinner or something?"

"No. Not dinner." Nick gave him an obvious look, hinting that he kept writing messages while him and Simone wanted to get intimate.

"...Oh." He looked a bit embarrassed at first, but then laughed. "Come on, I'm not doing that on purpose!"

"I know, but it still doesn't help her getting a more positive opinion on you. Look, I'm not saying it's your fault she feels neglected. And it's not like her and I don't spend any time together."

Greg shrugged. "With our work it's best to use every free time you have, don't you think?"

"Sure, but..."

"Don't let her suffocate you, but try to make her happy." Greg smiled at him.

"...You just don't want her to dislike you, huh?"

"...Not if she didn't even get to know me yet!"

Nick rolled his eyes laughing. "I'll talk to her, maybe she'll agree to get to know you, after all."

* * *

Another week had passed and in all that time, Greg didn't meet Nick's new girlfriend again. Nick didn't even try to set up a meeting and Greg was getting more and more confused over this. He walked into the evidence room where Nick was working on some evidence. "Does she hate me that much?"

"...What?"

"Simone! It's been almost a week and you didn't manage to get her have a few drinks with us?"

"...Why is this so important to you? I'm not even sure we'll last... I don't even know I want us to last, and you're being all over me to get to know her."

"Well I... Wait, what? Why don't you think you'll last?"

"I'm not saying I think we won't. I just don't know. It's just casual dating at the moment and it's fun. I'm not sure we're going to get serious anytime soon."

Greg was quietly watching Nick do his work for a moment. "...But that doesn't mean I can't get to know her better. I've met women you didn't even want to get serious with before."

Nick shrugged. "You already met her."

"So she really dislikes me that much, huh?"

"...'Course not." Nick didn't look at Greg but concentrated on the evidence he was processing instead.

"...You know what, it's her problem, not mine. She's clingy and can't deal with the fact that you have friends? Fine!"

"Greg, I..."

Greg went on with his rant without even noticing Nick wanted to say something. "But just because she wants you to stay away from your friends doesn't mean you..."

"Greg!" Nick said, making him stop. "What the hell are you talking about? Calm down, alright? I'm sure she'll want to get to know you better once we're out of our honeymoon phase, alright? Just be patient."

"...Sorry." Greg gave Nick a faint smile. "You're right, I shouldn't push you... or her. I don't know why I'm obsessing over this..." He turned around to leave the room, but he was well aware of the cause of his obsession. It was simply the guilt he felt over taking up most of Nick's free time these days.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys!**

**So, I think hardly anyone got an alert about my publishing a new story - I know I didn't but usually do when I submit a new one. So to make sure everyone who wants to know knows that there's a new story and because it's mother's day here in Austria, here's the next chapter already! :)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Two days later, Nick knocked on Greg's door. "...What are you doing here?" Greg asked surprised as he let him in.

"We wanted to watch a movie together. Don't tell me you forgot and made other plans!"

"...I didn't make other plans, but I didn't expect you to come here today."

"What? Why not?"

Greg looked at him confused. "I thought you wanted to spend more time with Simone."

"I never said that."

"Yeah but I figured that's what you wanted to do since..."

Nick rolled his eyes as he sat down on the couch. "Does that mean you don't have any food?"

"Sure I do. But it's your first night off in days. Is Simone busy tonight?"

"...Do I have to start worrying because my girlfriend's on your mind that much?" Nick asked jokingly while taking a sip from the beer sitting on the coffee table. "...It's warm."

"That one's been standing there for at least two or three days." Greg went into the kitchen to get a fresh one out of the fridge. "I just worry about you two."

"Don't. We're fine. She'll have to learn that I want to take care of my friends, you know?"

Being a little more sensitive than he used to be, Greg got offended by Nick's impression of having to take care of him, but decided not to say anything. "Your relationship shouldn't suffer because of it, though."  
"It isn't. She'll have to learn to be patient, right? Being there for a friend when he needs it is more important than..."

Greg quickly interrupted him. "What do you mean by that?"

"...Huh?"

Greg was getting furious on the inside, but ever since he started therapy he tried to work on his temper. "I don't need you to spend every free minute you have with me. I can be alone, you know. I'm **used** to it."

"Greg, that's not what I meant." Nick sighed. He feared Greg might explode every minute. He hadn't noticed Greg was working on his temper. "You had a rough year. I did, too. I think company is what we both need at the moment."

"Simone's company would be better for you, I'm sure. Right?"

Nick shook his head. "I'll see her later. Now I wanna spend time with a friend."

"I don't know, Nick... I really don't want to be..."

"If we ever break up, it won't be because of you. Don't worry." Nick gave Greg a confident, reassuring smile. "Now come on, hand me that beer before it gets warm as well and pop in a good movie!"

* * *

Nick had a lot of persuading to do, but finally managed to convince Simone thath she'd profit from getting to know his friends better. The team was throwing a surprise birthday party for Sara in her favorite pub and Simone tagged along. They had a fun evening and everybody got along with her. When Greg went to the bartender to get another round of drinks, Simone showed her true colors. He made some small talk when she interrupted him. "You know, Greg... I wanted to ask you for a favor."

"Sure." He looked at her a bit surprised.

"Nick and I are really hitting it off and... You keep getting in the way. I really don't mean to be rude, but there were times when I wondered what kind of friendship you two have."

"...What?"

"I mean, do you really have to talk every day?"

"We don't, I..." He tried to defend himself, but she wouldn't let him.

"I don't think there's ever been a day I spent with him when you didn't call or text or worked with him. You want him to be happy, don't you?"

Greg nodded with a shocked look on his face.

"Then support him. Back off a little. He should be able to enjoy the time with me." She patted him on the shoulder before she walked back to the group with a smile on her face, leaving Greg at the bar, obviously shocked.

* * *

Greg didn't know how to handle his conversation with Simone, so he decided to just keep it to himself. He felt the same way as she did, after all, fearing that he could get in the way of the relationship. But the way she handled it was weird and confusing. For the next days, trying to help Nick with his relationship, he kept him on a distance. He didn't spend his time after work with him and didn't call or text him, even though there were times he wanted to. He kept wondering if this was the right way to do it, but he felt kind of helpless and didn't know what else to do. After the first week of keeping up this kind of behavior, Nick walked into the break room where Greg was drinking his coffee and waiting for the shift to start. "Hey Greg." He smiled at him. "Feels like I haven't seen you in a while."

Greg chuckled. "We work together, we see each other every day."

"Yeah but in the last few days I was always working solo, we didn't get much time to chat. How are you?"

"Good. You?"

"You're sure you feel alright?"

"...Yeah, why?"

Nick started walking up and down the room. "I don't know, you don't look too good. Almost like someone scared you."

"...What are you talking about?" Greg raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know, I just think you look like someone who'd been told to stay away from me."

Greg almost dropped the coffee mug he held in his hand."Ouch!" He spilled some coffe on his hand. "...She told you?"

Nick sighed as he got Greg a towel and sat down. "You acted pretty weird at the party and when you continued to act weird over the week I asked her about it. She finally admitted what she did."

Greg didn't know what to say. He was embarrassed. "Well..." He looked at Nick. He was obviously waiting for an explanation. "...I gotta go, see how Hodges is doing with my evidence..." He tried to get off his seat, but Nick pulled him down again.

"You don't have a case at the moment, I know that! Sit down and tell me what the hell's going on!"

"I thought she told you everything."

"She didn't. She said she talked to you. She said you were mean to her and acted all jealous so she told you to back off."

"...What?! That's not true, I..." Again, he was speechless. He didn't want to trash-talk Nick's girlfriend, after all. "...I think it was all a misunderstanding."

"Oh come on, don't give me that. Tell me what she said to you."

"Nothing, Nick... She just asked for me to help your relationship to... grow... and stuff."

"How did she want you to help? Why does she think it has anything to do with you?"

Greg shrugged. "She just asked me to give you two some more time together. Which is actually the same thing I told you to do."

"How about you both accept that it's my decision who I want to spend my time with?" Nick was getting frustrated, but Greg was, too.

"I'm only trying to help! What are you getting mad at me for?"

"I'm not getting mad at you!" Nick got off his seat. "I'm just surprised you didn't tell me about this!"

"What was I suppose to say? 'Oh hey Nick, by the way. Your girlfriend hates me and doesn't like that we're friends'? That wouldn't have helped us, now, would it?"

"...How often do I have to tell you... She doesn't hate you, she's just..."

"...Jealous, yeah, I know. Doesn't make any difference. I don't want you two to break up because of me. Had I told you about it... It would've hurt your relationship and I didn't want that."

Nick sighed. "After work... I'm gonna go talk to her. But next time she tries something like that, let me know."

* * *

The thing with Simone put a bit of a strain on Nick and Greg's friendship. Neither one of them was too sure why, but they were kind of frustrated and let it out on each other. So without intending to do so, they didn't see each other too often outside of work for the next days. Simone was very happy about that, but tried not to let Nick know that this was the reason for her being in a good mood. While Nick was taking a shower after work, he received a text message from Greg, asking to call him so that they could sort things out. Instead of letting him know that he received that text, Simone decided to delete it.

* * *

The next day at work, Greg was even more frustrated than the previous days because he thought Nick had ignored the message. He walked into the tox lab as Nick was trying to get some big books from the top of the bookshelf. He was obviously struggling to get them down. "Greg, hey! Give me a hand."

Greg stood there, looking up to Nick standing on a ladder. "I'm sure you'll be fine on your own."

"...What?" Nick looked down to Greg, who was still standing there, watching Nick dropping one of the books, smashing some unused test tubes with it. "...Well thanks a lot! Was that really necessary?" Now that the heaviest book was down, it was easy to get the other ones down as well. He came down from the ladder. "You're in a mood. What's wrong?"

"Did you forget to call or just didn't care?" Greg gave him an angry look as he grabbed some of the books from Nick's hands to help him, after all.

"Was I supposed to call you?" Nick frowned confused.

"I would've appreciated it!"

"...Well, sorry I can't read minds, I guess. What's this about?"

"You didn't get my text message?"

"What text message?" Nick put the books down on the table.

"I sent you one yesterday. I wanted to talk to you."

Nick got his cell phone out of his pocket and started looking for the message. "Nope, didn't get one."

Greg looked at him a bit embarrassed. "...Oh."

While giving him a look, he checked the deleted messages. "Wait. There. But it's been deleted."

"But how could..." It quickly dawned on Greg. "...Oh, nevermind. Probably something wrong with your phone."

"...You don't think Simone did this, do you?"

"Of course not..."

"...You're a horrible liar." Nick rolled his eyes as he sat down. "I didn't realize how much of a problem our friendship is to her."

Greg thought that Simone's behavior was something Nick shouldn't accept and that he should talk to her about it, but he wanted to be supportive. Nick seemed to be happy with her, after all. "You know what? I'm backing off for a while. If it's a problem for her we should try not to let this affect your relationship."

"What? No! Why should we cater to her craziness?"

"Because it's the easier way." Greg smiled. "Just give her a chance, alright?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Off to a new chapter! Thanks for the reviews! ;)**

* * *

Nick wasn't sure cutting down on the time he spent with Greg was the right way to deal with this problem, but he wanted to give it a shot. Simone was very pleased once she noticed Greg stopped calling or texting Nick. She didn't say anything, but showed her gratitude in many different ways. The two were having great dates in the next week and their relationship seemed to be progressing very well. They were lying in bed, awoken by Nick's cell phone ringing at around 2 a.m. He looked at the display tiredly. "...It's Greg."

"Don't answer it... Let's just get back to sleep..." Simone didn't even open her eyes.

"No, I have to. He's at work right now, maybe he needs something..."

Simone put her hand on Nick's forearm. "Or maybe he doesn't. You're not on-call today, are you?"

Nick sighed. He wished she'd understand that work had to be his priority. "Sorry." He answered the phone. "Hey Greg."

"_Sorry to wake you, but I could really use your help."_

* * *

"You can't be serious!" Nick was arguing with Simone for almost half an hour now. She didn't want him to go help Greg.

"I'm dead serious! You walk out that door now, we're done."

"He **needs** me! This is important, why can't you understand that?!"

She shook her head. "I just can't see you running out in the middle of the night because Russell called you and asked you to help him."

"This is ridiculous! You have no reason to be jealous of him. He suggested to give us some space for the next few weeks and he did!"

"And you went one week without constantly contacting each other, now he calls you out of bed. I'm sorry but it's weird!"

"It isn't! This is a work-related emergency and... and I have to leave now. I can't waste any more time talking about this!"

"I'm really sorry I'm wasting your time!" Simone looked as if she would start crying any minute.

Nick noticed and calmed down. "I'll be back as soon as I can, alright?"

"...No. I'm coming with you!"

* * *

Because Nick really wanted to make this relationship work, he took a few more days off than usual and cut back his hours a bit for the next month. Greg was taking over some of Nick's cases in order to make this new schedule work. One of the cases was the reason he needed Nick now. "He'll be here in a minute, alright?" Greg said to a suspect in the interrogation room. He was at least as nervous as the suspect himself.

"...Are you sure?" the suspect asked shaking. He was pointing the gun he took from a police officer at his own head, his back pressed against the wall.

Greg was trying to convince him to give up for almost an hour, but the suspect insisted on talking to Nick first. "I just talked to him, he's on his way."

The suspect had sent out the police officer he took the gun from and there was no detective present while Greg was talking to him, so now it was just him and the suspect inside the interrogation room. "Good... That's good..." He looked Greg up and down. "Maybe you should sit down."

"I'd rather stand, if that's okay with you." Greg gave him a faint smile.

"Sit down."

"...Alright." Greg did. The suspect didn't seem like he'd hurt Greg, but frustrated people in distress were unpredictable.

They heard a knock on the door. "...Is that him?"

"...You want me to check?" When the suspect nodded, Greg slowly opened up. "Hey Nick," he said very quietly.

"Mr. Holmes," Nick said with a faint smile. "Mind if I come in?"

"...That's the wrong guy!" the suspect, Mr. Holmes, exclaimed. "Close the door!"

"...That's CSI Stokes. You asked for him, Brad."

"Close it!" With shaking hands, the suspect Brad Holmes pointed the gun at Greg.

Greg gave Nick a desperate look before closing the door. "Who was it you wanted to talk to, then?"

"Sit down..."

"Because I can call that guy, too, make him come here and talk to you..." Greg sat down at the table. He was getting more nervous, now that Brad experienced a letdown. He knew this wouldn't be a good thing in this kind of situation. "...You could always talk with me instead, too."

"That's not who I was asking for! I wanted to talk to the tall guy! With the white hair!"

"...You mean Russell, my supervisor. I can arrange for him to come here." Greg was getting a little more relaxed when Brad pointed the gun away from him. "Do you want me to give him a call? He'll be here in no time."

"What time is it?"

Greg saw the look on Brad's face. He looked as if he was defeated. The CSI looked at his watch. "Just after 3 a.m. Let me call Russell, alright? Maybe you two can work something out."

Brad chuckled sad. "That's when she stopped breathing. 3 a.m. Tell her family I'm sorry, okay?"

"...Brad, we'll figure something out!" Greg jumped off his seat, meaning to do something about it, but he wasn't quick enough. Brad Holmes had already put the barrel of the gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger.

* * *

Greg was sitting in the break room, gazing into space as he was still shocked over what he had witnessed a few hours ago. Nick stayed at the lab to be by his side and help him as good as he could, but Simone was anything but pleased about this. "You should eat something." Nick put some food on the table in front of Greg.

He shook his head. "I'm not hungry. Don't know if I ever will be again."

Nick nodded empathetically.

"Shouldn't you be at home with Simone?"

"...Now? Come on, even she understands that I want to be here now."

"...Does she?"

Nick nodded, but was lying. She hated the fact that he decided to stay here. She walked in with a faint smile on her face. "Hey Greg. How are you?"

Greg looked surprised at Nick. "...Hey Simone. I'll be fine, thanks." He smiled back at her although he didn't feel like it. He just really wanted her to like him.

Nick got off his seat to hand Simone a cup of coffee. "I need to check on Robin, see if she has our results ready." Now that Brad Holmes was dead, they were able to get his DNA and find out if he actually did kill the victim or not.

While Nick was still in the room, Simone was very understanding and tried to comfort Greg. Once he was gone, she changed. "Listen... I'm really sorry this happened to you. I'm sure it was horrible but... You'll be fine on your own, right?"

"...What?" Greg asked confused and shocked.

"When Nick comes back, you'll tell him to go home, alright?"

"...But..."

"You'll tell him you're fine and that he can leave. You have enough other people around here supporting you, don't you?"

Greg stared at her in disbelief. He stuttered, trying to find words to respond to that.

Nick walked back in. "Results will take a while..." He sat back down and noticed that Greg looked even more distraught than he did before. "...Is something wrong?"

Greg briefly looked over to Simone, then at Nick. "You know what? You two should get home."

"Do you wanna go home?"

He shook his head. "No. But you should get some rest, you have to work in a few hours."

"Yeah but I don't want to leave you all by yourself."

"I'm not all by myself..." He gave him a sweet, but faint and faked smile. "Go home, get some rest."

Nick looked over to Simone, who gave him enough signs to let him know she agreed with Greg and wanted to leave, too. "...Alright. If you need anything, give me a call, okay?"

* * *

Once Nick and Simone left, Greg was hurrying inside the DNA lab and sat in front of a computer. It didn't take long for someone to notice he was in there. Russell walked in with a soft smile on his face. "I hope you're not researching Brad Holmes."

Greg startled a bit. "No..."

"Then what are you doing in here?"

Greg shrugged. "Nothing. Just killing time." He clicked on the computer to make the window he was searching on disappear.

Russell raised an eyebrow. "You said you didn't want to go home because you didn't want to be alone, and now you're cooped up in the DNA lab, all by yourself. What's going on?"

Greg sighed. "It's Simone, Nick's girlfriend. She's been acting quite weird and I want to find out if she has any priors..."

"...You're spying on her?"

"It's not spying, it's looking out for a friend. She's crazy. She's jealous of me because she thinks I'm spending too much time with Nick!"

"Jealousy is hardly a sign she's a dangerous criminal, is it?"

"She just told me to send him home because she didn't want him to stay with me."

Russell nodded understanding. It did sound weird and he could understand why Greg would be worried, but he didn't think it was reason to check for a criminal record. "Found anything yet?"

"Nah... I came up with nothing. But it got me thinking... Maybe she's not using her real name..."

Russell was getting worried. He thought that maybe Greg's obsession over Simone was a way of coping with what he experienced today. "I'm heading out to a crime scene now. Maybe you should go home and get some sleep. I could drop you off on my way to the scene."

"No, thank you. I'll stay and try a few things, maybe I'll be able to find something."


	4. Chapter 4

**Hope you're as excited about this story as I was when I wrote it :)**

* * *

Greg stayed another few hours at the lab until he finally went home. He tried to get some sleep but couldn't get the picture of Brad Holmes shooting his brains out out of his head so he stayed awake, trying to find out more about Nick's new girlfriend. He was on his computer for hours until he heard a knock on his door. "Nick. What are you doing here?"

"I tried to call you like five times. Sara said you went home so I decided to check on you."

Greg invited Nick in as he walked to his laptop to close it. "There's no need to check on me. You should be at home now."

"Actually I should be at work." He sat down on the couch. "Have you been sleeping on your couch?" A pillow and a blanket were lying on it.

"Tried to. But coffee's almost as good as sleep, right?" He smiled.

"I guess..." Nick looked at him rather worried. "Listen, seeing how you're doing is just one reason I came over. I wanted to ask you if Simone said anything to you that upset you."

"...Like what?"

Nick shrugged his shoulder. "I don't know. You both seemed a little weird when I left you alone for a few minutes. I know she can be a little insensitive sometimes so..."

Greg shook his head. "I don't think she did."

Nick gave him a look. "Seriously, do you even want me to buy your lies? You're a horrible liar."

Greg sighed. "It's not like you want my opinion on her, anyway. You think you do, but once I tell you you'll be mad at me for saying it."

"That's not true."

"Oh come on. Remember... What's her name, Christine?"

"...Kristy."

"Yeah right, whatever. I didn't like her and you **made me** say it. She was the most obnoxious woman I have ever met but you liked her! I didn't want to ruin it for you so I didn't say anything. Not until you kept bugging me about it, right?"

"...Maybe."

"So I'm asking you. Do you really want to know what I think about her?"

Nick looked a bit annoyed, but he knew Greg was right. He just wanted to hear how lovely Simone was, but Greg wasn't able to say this without lying. "I just want you two to get along, alright?"

* * *

For the next few days, Nick and Greg were spending more time together again. Nick wanted to take Greg's mind off of Brad Holmes because he knew the young CSI had a rough time dealing with it. The first few times, Simone didn't say anything. She let Nick know she wasn't okay with it, but in a subtle way. When he told her he'd go have a few drinks with Greg on this Saturday night, she finally had enough. "You tell me **now**? Five minutes before you want to leave?"

"Well, yeah. I thought it was okay. I thought you'd understand."

"Understand what exactly? That my boyfriend wants to spend time with a colleague from work more than he wants to spend time with me?"

"It's not about what **I **want, Simone. Greg's my friend and he needs me."

"So you don't enjoy spending time with him at all?"

"...No, of course I do. But I'd love to spend the night with you, too. I'll go have a few drinks with him and when I come back, I'm sure we'll figure something out to do." He put his arms around her while standing behind her.

"I don't think so. You'll either stay with me or don't bother coming back later tonight."

"Come on. Why do you hate him so much? You don't even know him."

"I know enough. I don't want you hanging around with other people all the time."

Nick sighed. He was tired of this topic coming up almost every day. "He's having a rough time and I'm trying to be supportive."

"He's got other people to do that! How about taking care of **me** for a change?!"

"Okay, that's enough. I won't argue about this anymore. I'm not gonna abandon a friend in need because you feel neglected." He grabbed his keys. "I'll call you, okay?"

"Screw you! Get the hell out of here. Have fun with your needy friend!"

* * *

Greg, Nick, Henry and Hodges were sitting in a bar having a few drinks. Henry and Hodges were having lots of fun, trying to hit on women and drinking way too much. Greg and Nick, on the other hand, weren't able to enjoy themselves as much. "Don't you want to join them?" Nick asked Greg with a tired smile.

He shook his head. "I'm not really in the mood."

"Why, what's wrong?"

"I just can't get this image out of my head, you know?"

"...That's the reason we're doing this. To help you get through it."

Greg smiled. "I appreciate it."

"You don't feel guilty, do you? You know there was nothing you could've done, right?"

Greg shrugged. "I keep replaying it in my head. I could've asked him if it was really you he wanted to talk to or..."

"Greg, come on. He was a suicidal murderer. Stop beating yourself up about him."

He sighed. "It didn't even happen a week ago. I just need some time to deal with this, you know? On my own."

Nick looked at him rather suspicious. "You're not trying to cater to Simone again, are you?"

"No." Greg chuckled. He was still trying to figure Simone out and would continue trying to find out if she had any priors, but he hit a dead end at the moment. "I'm no fun to be around at the moment, there's no need for you guys to suffer because of it."

"Suffer?" Nick looked over to Hodges and Henry having a blast. "I don't think these two are suffering."

"Well how about you? You don't seem like you're having fun."

"Yeah but that's hardly your fault."

Greg was getting nosy. He was sure there was only one person responsible for this. "...Then what's wrong?"

"Ah well you know. Same old."

"...Simone? She doesn't like your being here, huh?"

"Not exactly. But it's not like I care."

"You should care. She's your girlfriend."

"We'll see if she still is when I get home." Nick patted him on the back with a faint smile on his lips.

* * *

One week after he watched a man kill himself, Greg was finally able to find something on Simone. While trying to hide the joy he was feeling over this, he walked into the break room to tell Nick about it. "Hey Nick!"

"You're in a good mood!" He flashed Greg a smile. It's been a week since he's seen him happy like that. He couldn't know that Greg's joy could be his bad news.

The smile on Greg's face faded a bit. He tried to keep on a straight face. "...How'd it go with Simone?"

Nick sighed. "That woman's killing me. She was mad... But we were able to put our differences aside."

"Good. That's... good..." Greg looked thoughtful at the sheets he was carrying around in his hands. He was starting to get a bad feeling about what he was just about to do. "So... How much exactly do you know about Simone?"

"...What?" Nick frowned confused. "...What's this in your hand?"

"You know I only do this because I want you to be happy, right?"

"...Do what?" As Greg went on to talk about why he was doing this without even once mentioning what he was doing, Nick was too impatient to listen to the whole speech. "...Gimme that!" He grabbed the papers Greg held in his hands. They almost ripped them apart.

"...Hey, I..."

"...What the hell is this, man?!"

"Okay, calm down and listen to me. She's using a fake name."

Nick jumped off his seat. "Why did you do this? You had no right to..."

"Don't you care **at all **that she lied to you? Who knows what else she's lying about?"

"...Aside from the name, did you find anything else worth betraying me for?"

"...I didn't betray you... and... well, she doesn't have a criminal record aside from shoplifting as a young adult, which is a relief."

"At least someone's happy," Nick said sarcastically.

"Come on, Nick. I was only trying to protect you. She's hiding something from you. Why else would she give you a fake name?"

Nick laughed humorlessly. "I'm starting to think she's right about you."

"...You don't mean that."

"She crossed some lines when it comes to you, I'll give you that. But she'd never... **ever** do something like that."

"...Oh come on, you'd do the same thing if I was the one with the crazy girlfriend with a fake name!"

"...Simone's her middle name. I knew that she was using her middle name as a first name and her mother's maiden name as her last name, simply because she's estranged from her father and doesn't like her real first name!"

"...Oh." Greg looked embarrassed. He never considered the possibility that Simone could've told Nick about everything he was researching about.

"Yeah. Had you asked me about it, I would've told you. Oh, and she also told me about the shoplifting. It was a dare when she was in college and she got caught stealing some shirts. Big deal, huh?"

"...Nick, I'm sorry... I..."

"...You had no right to do that." Nick walked out, both angry and sad.


	5. Chapter 5

**New chapter!**

**Thanks for the Reviews and Following and stuff :)**

**Warning: cliffhanger ahead!**

* * *

Greg just couldn't stop looking at the information he got on Simone. He kept wondering if he did the wrong thing when he showed it to Nick. He wasn't even sure what he was trying to achieve with this. He kept telling himself he just meant to warn Nick in case Simone was dangerous, but he knew that wasn't true. He didn't like Simone and wanted her gone. But the damage was done, Nick was angry with him and he had every right to be, so Greg was thinking of ways to apologize. "Hey." He walked into the locker room.

Nick was just getting ready to head to a crime scene. "What do you want?" he asked annoyed.

"You know I tried to help you make this relationship work."

Nick gave him a look. "Yeah? What made you change your mind?"

Greg shook his head. "Doesn't matter. I just thought you'd want me to warn you if there was something off about her."

"Depends on why you wanted to do that, really."

"Because I care about you. I was sure I'd find something... a little more incriminating."

Nick rolled his eyes a bit. "And why did you think that?"

"Look, all I want you to know is that I'm backing off for good. You trust her and that means I'll have to trust her, too."

Nick got off from the bench he was sitting on and walked over to Greg. "Why are you being so suspicious?"

"...I wish you the best of luck," he said in a weird tone while turning around.

Nick grabbed his arm and turned him back around. "What did she say to you?"

Greg sighed. "Give it a rest. We shouldn't argue."

"First you spend hours looking for her criminal record, eager to find something negative about her and now you won't tell me why you're being so suspicious about this woman? Come on, say it." Nick kept a tight grip around Greg's arm. He was really angry. Not at Greg, but over the thought of her saying something to Greg that could make him want to ruin the relationship.

"No, Nick. I was wrong. I shouldn't have meddled. You like her, don't you?"

"Of course I do."

"Good. Then that's all there is to know!" He gave him a smile before turning around again. Once more, Nick kept him from doing so. He was squeezing Greg's arm rather roughly. "...You know, this is starting to hurt."

"Then you better tell me what she said to you. Because if you don't, my grip's only getting tighter."

"You're crazy! Let go of me!" Greg tried to shake Nick's hand off, but the older CSI wouldn't let him.

"She must've said **something**!"

Greg was determined not to tell Nick. He wasn't even sure why anymore, but his stubbornness kept him from doing it. "No! Get your hand off of me and go to your crime scene! I won't tell you anything!"

Greg kept pulling away and Nick kept pulling him in the other direction. It was a weird thing to watch and Hodges did just that. He stood in the doorway to the locker room with a big grin on his face. The two CSIs were getting louder until they started yelling at each other. Russell heard them from the hall and decided to find out what was going on. "What the hell are you two doing?!"

"Russell, tell him to let go of me! He's insane!" Greg nagged while giving Nick an annoyed look.

"Russell, it's none of your business! We can handle this on our own," Nick said, still pulling Greg.

"What is this, are you two gonna start a fight now? Deal with your problems like two adults or get the hell out of my lab!"

* * *

Neither one of them was willing to settle this the way Russell intended, so they walked out of the lab. "Alright, now tell me everything I need to know." Nick had finally let go of Greg.

Greg sighed as he sat down on the stairs to the lab. "I don't think you want to know. You'll just be mad at me for telling you."

"No I won't. I promise."

Greg looked him up and down before telling him how Simone kept trying to keep him from Nick, even in times he needed him.

Nick nodded, then thought about this for a moment. "So when you sent us away last week after Holmes committed suicide... You actually wanted us to stick around?"

"Of course not. I was relieved when she left..." Greg chuckled a bit. "But... Yeah, I wouldn't have minded you staying."

"I noticed you were acting weird but... I thought it was because of the rough day you were having."

"It's no big deal, you know? I don't mind that you left, but I do mind that she insisted on making this day all about her. If she doesn't like me that's fine, but why would she try to keep us from seeing each other? That's just weird."

* * *

After work, Greg went home to get some sleep. He woke up at around 3 p.m., took a shower and was getting ready to run some errands before he had to go to work again. He heard a knock on the door while he put his shoes on. "...What are you doing here?"

"We need to talk." Simone had a very serious look on her face.

"...I'm on my way out."

"It won't take too long." She walked in without having been invited to do so.

Greg rolled his eyes. "What is it?"

"So you're trying to ruin my relationship with Nick, right?"

"If your relationship fails you did it all by yourself."

She looked at him angrily while she walked into his living room. "You're his friend and he listens to you, you know that! Why are you talking trash about me?"

"I'm not. Everything I said to him is true."

"Oh screw you! You were against our love from the very beginning!"

Greg laughed humorlessly. "I was trying my best to support him! I knew how much you meant to him so I even tried to give you two more space! We used to talk everyday and when you two started dating, I backed off even before you told me to! What else was I suppose to do?"

"How about actually backing off? You must be the neediest person I've ever met!"

He rolled his eyes. He was getting angry, too. "Why, because after seeing a man blow his brains out I needed some company? You try to do our job everyday and not need support every once in a while!"

"Oh here it goes again. The second most important thing to Nick... Besides you! His frickin' job! I can't stand hear you guys bitch about the horrible things you see everyday! How about getting a new job if you can't handle the pressure?!"

She was really getting out of line and Greg didn't want to discuss things like his professional choices with her. "You better leave now. Because if he asks me, I won't lie to him. I'll tell Nick how insane you are. Not that he probably doesn't already know..."

Calling her insane was what pushed her over the edge. "Screw you! And Nick! Screw you both! Jerks!" She pushed Greg pretty roughly before walking towards the door. Before walking out, she turned around to him one more time. "There will come a day when you'll regret meddling!" She walked out, leaving Greg with an annoyed look on his face. He stayed in his apartment for a few minutes to cool off. While putting on his shoes, it knocked on his door again. He sighed annoyed. "Why won't she just leave?" he said to himself before opening the door.

* * *

"What are you doing?"

"Might as well use the opportunity."

"Leave his shit alone. It's not very subtle, walking out of here with a laptop and TV in our hands."

"Fine, whatever."

Greg heard the two voices talking in the living room as he was lying on the bedroom floor, but he hardly listened. He was distracted by trying to work up the strength to remain conscious and get up, he didn't even try to understand what the words coming out of their mouths meant. He just hoped they'd leave already.

One of the two walked back into the bedroom and up to Greg, causing him to flinch and shake. He was terrified, but even if he had the strength to move right now – which he didn't – he already knew that fighting back wasn't an option worth exploring.

"Hey. I think he has enough." The man grabbed the other man's arm, slightly pulling him away from Greg.

"Relax, dude. I wasn't gonna hurt him, I just want his cell phone."

"...What for?"

"It's subtle enough, isn't it?" The man patted Greg down, looking for the phone. All Greg could do right now was endure it. "Where the hell is it?"

"Let's just leave already," the other man said quite nervously, walking out of the room.

"Hey. Where's your phone, buddy?" he asked Greg, lightly patting his cheek to get him to concentrate. "Come on man!" He wiped his blood-stained hands clean on Greg's shirt.

"I got it. It's here." The other man walked back into the bedroom with the cell phone in his hand. "Now let's get out of here."


	6. Chapter 6

**I hope the last chapter had you wanting more! So here goes. What happened to poor Greg?**

* * *

The two men had finally left Greg's apartment and left him lying on his bedroom floor, staring on a dresser with empty, terrorized and bruised eyes. As some of his strength was slowly coming back, he propped himself up to get up. He took a look around to realize how bad the situation actually was. Blood spatter was everywhere, the blanket and pillows were lying next to his feet. He just stood there for a while, anxiously staring at his bed until he was startled by a knock on the door. He walked out of the bedroom and stared frightened at the door. After a short moment, it knocked again.

"Hey man, it's Nick!"

"Right..." he whispered to himself. They wanted to drive to work together today. Today of all days. "...Right! ...I'll be right out," he said, regretting this sentence the second the words came out of his mouth while walking back into the bedroom.

* * *

Greg's shaking hands were fumbling through the bathroom cabinet, looking for something - anything - that would help him right now.

"What's taking you so long? Open up, man! I'm not in the mood..." Nick kept banging on the door for a few minutes now.

"...Just a sec!" Greg yelled, trying to hide the despair in his voice. He wanted to clean himself up as good as possible, but a look into the mirror made him realize the real extend of his wounds. There was no way to conceal what happened. "...You know what? I'm not gonna be ready in time! Go ahead, I'll meet you at..." On his way to the bedroom, he saw Nick walk inside the apartment. Greg quickly turned around again, meaning to go back inside the bathroom.

"...What the hell, man? You asked me to pick you up on my way to work and you're not even ready?" Nick looked him up and down. Greg was dressed and even wearing shoes, he seemed to be ready to go. "...You look ready. Are you looking for something?"

"...Uh, yeah, I..." Greg stood with his back to Nick, slightly looking over his shoulder to look at his friend. "It could take a while."

"Why didn't you just say so?" Nick looked at his watch with annoyance. "I'll wait. But hurry up. You want me to help you look for... what was it you're looking for?"

Greg sighed. "I don't want you to be late for work because of me."

"We have another ten minutes." Nick smiled at him. "So what's missing?" He briefly looked around. The first thing he noticed in Greg's messy apartment was some smeared red fluid on the floor, a few inches away from the door. "Uh, Greg, what's this?"

"...What do you mean?"

Nick looked at Greg rather suspicious. It all didn't seem right to him. "What's going on?" He had already noticed the young CSI's weird behavior, but Greg's moodiness wasn't anything new to him.

Drops of blood were slowly dripping down Greg's shaky hand. "Nothing, what are you..."

Nick interrupted him. "Is that blood?" Only now he noticed the blood stains on Greg's clothes. "Did you hurt yourself?"

Greg sighed as he walked into the living room and sat down on the couch, nervously rubbing his forehead with his fingers.

Nick followed him. He stared at Greg in shock when the young CSI looked up to him. "...What happened to you?"

"...Can you please just go to work and tell Russell I won't be coming in today? Without asking any questions?"

"I'm afraid I can't." Nick smiled worried as he sat down on the coffee table. "Who did this?" Calm on the outside but raging on the inside, he gently put his hand on his friend's shoulder.

Greg's face was roughed up pretty badly. He had a black eye, a bloody nose and some cuts on his cheek and forehead. Nick couldn't see the damage underneath Greg's clothes, but it was just as bad. "My phone's gone, I can't call him myself."

Nick sighed as he got off his seat and walked out of the living room. Greg listened for the door to open and close, but it only opened. He walked out, as well, to find Nick talk over the phone outside the apartment. "...Who are you talking to?"

"...Gotta go, bye." Nick hung up. "Russell. I told him I'm running late."

"Why did you do that? If you leave now you'll be there on time."

"Because I'm not leaving you. Tell me what happened."

"...Please."

"Really? You want me to walk out of here and leave you all by yourself? Is that really what you want right now?"

Greg could hardly look Nick in the eyes. Of course it wasn't what he wanted, but what he thought was best for Nick right now. But he couldn't get himself to lie and say he wanted to be left alone. His face told Nick the truth, anyway – he needed his friend right now.

Nick nodded understanding, hoping this meant Greg would tell him how he got those wounds. "Let's go sit down in the living room so we can talk, alright?"

Greg hastily shook his head. "There's nothing to talk about..."

Nick looked him up and down. "You have defensive wounds on your hands and arms..."

"Nick, stop it... I appreciate you worrying but..."

Nick started wandering through the apartment. "He surprised you at the door, didn't he? That's where you got the cut on your forehead from." He tried a quite unusual approach by running the scene like it was a crime scene he was working on, but he was hoping it would make Greg open up about what happened.

"Stop."

"Looks like the fight went on in the kitchen..." Nick walked in and looked down to find shattered glass covering the floor. One kitchen knife was lying on the floor, another one on the kitchen counter. Both had Greg's blood on them. "...But didn't stop there." He followed the signs of the struggle inside the bedroom. He kept making pauses to give Greg a chance to chime in, but he didn't. Instead, he was just nervously and silently following Nick through the apartment. "...Here's where it ended." The bedsheets were blood-spattered and halfway torn off the bed. The blood-spattered pillow and blanket were both lying on the ground, as well as another knife with Greg's blood on it. This time he was making a pause because he was deeply affected by the sight. "...What happened in here?" he asked angrily without turning around to his friend.

"...Not what you might think. I was about to change the sheets when you started banging on the door." He gave Nick a look. "What do I have to do to make you leave already?"

"Easy. Tell me who did this. And why. Whoever did this must've been very angry at you..."

"You know what? It's none of your business! You can't do anything about it and I don't want you to." Greg felt bad being that way to Nick, who was simply worrying about him, but he didn't know how else to deal with him right now.

"...Are you trying to protect this guy?"

Greg rolled his eyes as he started changing the bedsheets with shaking hands.

"Don't, that's evidence."

"No it's not."

"Greg... You're messing up the scene, you know that."

"This isn't a scene! It's my bedroom!" Greg yelled, letting out some of his frustration on poor Nick.

"...Wait, I'll help you." He took a few steps towards the bed.

"I can do this myself."

"Greg, you're weak, your hands are shaking..."

"Yeah because I just got attacked!" he yelled desperately. He turned away from Nick, trying hard to keep the tears from falling again. "...Just..."

Nick put his hand on Greg's back, but the young CSI shook it off at first. He didn't on Nick's second try, though. "I think it would be better for you to step out of the bedroom. Sit down on the couch, I'll get you some ice to put on those bruises."

"No, I need to clean this up first..." He proceeded to try pulling the bedsheets off.

"...But why?" Nick suspected Greg might be in shock. "You're gonna have to report this. Don't you want that?"

Greg sighed. If only he could tell Nick. "I don't think I should..."

"You're scared right now, but tomorrow you'll feel bad about destroying evidence that could lead us to the guy who did this to you. Please, promise me you won't touch anything."

Greg finally got the sheet off of the mattress. He moaned in pain and sat down on the ground with one of his hands still wrapped around the bedsheets.

"...What is it? Do you need a doctor?"

Leaning against the bed, he started crying. "I don't think you'd want me reporting this..."

Nick sat down next to him. "Why not?"

Greg shook his head as he wiped away the tears from his bruised face.

"Greg, whatever happened in this room..." Greg tried to get up again, but Nick pulled him down. "Hey. You can tell me."

"Do me a favor. Go to work and... tell Russell or Sara to come here. You shouldn't be here."

"...What?"

"Just leave. You can't be here..."

Instead of doing what Greg asked him for, he put his arm around him, gently pulling him closer so that Greg could lean on him as the two were sitting on the ground leaning against the bed. "There's no way I'll leave you all by yourself now. If you want Russell or Sara to come here that's fine. But I won't leave before somebody else arrives. You're not alone, alright?" Nick tried to be supportive but was really hurt by Greg's words. Why would it be okay for Sara or Russell to be here, but not him? He let Greg cry on his shoulder for a while before he decided to express his worries that the bedsheets did tell the story he first thought of when he saw all the blood on them. Greg being hesitant to report the crime made Nick's assumptions only more reasonable. "Greg... No matter what happened, you don't have to be ashamed. It's not your fault."

He gave Nick a look as he sat up, wiping away the tears on his face. "I know that. You're gonna be late for work."

"No. I'm not gonna leave you when you need me. Not again," Nick said determined, hinting at when he left Greg alone just because Simone wanted to.

"This might affect your life more than you think," he said with a soft, sad smile on his face.

"What does this have to do with me?" Nick looked Greg up and down. Appealing to Greg's reason wasn't working at the moment. "How about we get you cleaned up, huh?"

* * *

Nick had hurried down to his car to get his evidence kit. Greg didn't want that, but he insisted to do so. "Tell me if it hurts," he said while taking care of Greg's wounds in the bathroom. "I'd rather take you to the hospital, though, you know."

Greg was sitting on the edge of his bath tub. "It's okay. I can do this myself."

Nick gave him a look while proceeding. As he was cleaning up the wounds, he also took swabs, hoping to get any evidence that could help them find the assailant. "So you know who the guy was, right?"

"...What?"

"Well you said it could affect me. If it was just a stranger you wouldn't think that, now, would you? Anybody I know, too? Maybe from an old case of ours?"

"Why would someone from an old case come here and..." Greg shook his head while Nick took evidence from under his fingernails.

"Okay... Someone from our private lives?" Nick looked thoughtful. He couldn't think of anyone who'd want to hurt Greg or him, for that matter. He picked up his camera and started taking photos of Greg's bruised arms and face.

"...Don't. Stop that." He winced at every flash. "When's Russell gonna be here?"

"He's on the other side of town, it'll take him a while. You need to take off your shirt."

Greg looked at Nick rather nervously. He didn't want him to see the real extent of his injuries. He got up and walked out of the bathroom.

"Hey, wait." Nick followed him into the bedroom. "What are you doing?"

"This is a bad idea. I don't want this."

Nick looked confused and couldn't help but to stare at the bed as he took his eyes off of Greg. "You're gonna have to tell me what happened in here." He was getting angry again as his mind was making up several theories.

It took a second for Greg to realize what Nick was thinking about. "I already told you. Not what you think!"

"Well, what else am I supposed to think? You don't want to tell me what went down, you refuse to take your shirt off... I'm worried."

Greg sighed in anger as he walked back into the bathroom, taking off his shirt and revealing several nasty bruises and cuts. When he saw the shocked look on Nick's face, he rolled his eyes a bit. "Happy now?"

Nick was speechless, so he just took some pictures.

After minutes of silence, Greg felt bad about lashing out on Nick. "...Sorry."

Nick nodded acknowledging. "...Did he kneel on your chest?"

"You tell me," he replied while giving Nick a look. He felt bad the moment he said it, but his frustration was getting the better of him. "...I..." he sighed, unable to apologize to Nick again.

"Excuse me..." Nick walked out. He didn't come back for a few minutes. Greg wasn't sure what to do, but he was glad to have Nick off his back for a while. He sat down on the edge of the bathtub again after putting his shirt back on. Nick stormed back in, unable to repress the anger inside him. "How does this have anything to do with me?!"

"...Nick! Calm down..." Greg said with a scared look on his face. Nick's anger felt inappropriate for the situation and upset the young CSI.

Despite being unable to control his anger, Nick was still able to sense Greg's emotions. He calmed down a bit when he noticed he scared his friend. "I'm sorry, I'm trying to respect your privacy and all... But if this is somehow connected with me, I have a right to know! Who is he?"

The whole time since Nick got here, all Greg could think of was whether or not to tell him. He had finally made a decision. "This doesn't have anything to do with you."

"...It doesn't?"

"No." Greg shook his head. "I don't know why I said that, I guess I... I was still in shock and not thinking straight." In fact, Greg's thoughts were as sharp as always now, but he was determined to lie to Nick for as long as possible.

The older CSI smiled a little relieved. "So... Can you describe the assailant?"


	7. Chapter 7

**Thank you guys SO much for the sweet Reviews! You can't begin to imagine how much it means to me to read that you enjoy my stories! :) Let's see how Greg's doing, shall we?**

* * *

When Russell set foot into Greg's apartment, he reconstructed the same order of events as Nick did. He also made the same assumption when he first saw the bedroom. Greg had torn off the bedsheet, but the mattress was still showing the blood stains. It wasn't too much blood, but enough to get some horrible pictures into one's head. "You should see a doctor, make sure nothing's broken." Right now, this was all Russell could say as he faced his hurt colleague.

Greg shook his head. "Maybe later." Russell was quickly filled in on what Greg just told Nick, then the young CSI went on to tell the whole story. Almost, that is.

Russell sighed. He wasn't sure where to start to collect evidence. "There's an ambulance waiting outside for you. Do you want one of us to come with you?"

Nick accompanied Greg to the hospital. He would've loved to stay at the apartment and help collect the evidence, but it was more important for him to be there for Greg. Little did he know that the reason Greg wanted him with him was to get him out of the apartment. He just didn't want him to get involved in the case.

* * *

"Hey, how'd it go?" Nick asked as he walked into Russell's office, closing the door.

"Good. Greg's with Brass now, going through some criminal's mug shots. Maybe he'll recognize them." the supervisor replied.

Nick nodded. "Did you get a match to the DNA from under Greg's fingernails?"

"...No."

"Fingerprints?"

"None inside the apartment, the knives are our last hope."

Nick sighed. The attackers used Greg's kitchen knives to scare him and cut him with. They were obviously sadists. "Do you know what he's hiding?"

Russell looked up from the files. "...What do you mean?"

"I know I should probably respect his privacy, maybe he has his reasons for lying to me, but I'm worried. Do you know what it is?"

"Why do you think he's lying to you?"

"Because I know him. Something about his story seems off, but I can't quite put my finger on it yet..."

"He doesn't have any broken bones and his wounds will heal. What else is there to know?"

Nick took a moment before going on. "How did all that blood end up in his bed?"

"Oh, that. Well... Greg says they pushed him down on the bed. It's all from the injuries on his face and the cuts."

"...And you believe that?"

"There's nothing that suggests otherwise. Don't worry, there was no sexual assault."

Nick's face muscles relaxed a bit. "Good... Any theory why they chose him?"

Russell shook his head. "It's a bit early for motive, don't you think?"

* * *

Greg was sitting on one of the benches in the locker room when Nick walked in. "Hey. What are you doing here?" He gave him a sweet, but also confused smile. "I figured you went home."

The attack happened almost ten hours ago and Greg had spent these hours in the hospital and later with Brass, giving a statement about what happened. He left the part about his suspicions out, but didn't lie. "I thought about your offer... If it still stands, I..."

Nick nodded, still smiling. "Of course. You can stay as long as you want to." He took his cell phone out. "Just let me call Simone and..."

"Simone?!" Greg said in a weird voice. "...Why would you call her?"

"Well she wanted to come by later but I'll tell her what happened and..."

"No! Don't tell her!"

Nick gave Greg a confused look. "Why not?"

"...You know, I'm sorry." Greg got off the bench. "I'm just gonna ask Sara if I can crash at her place, you don't need to change your plans or anything. It was inconsiderate of me to..."

Nick grabbed Greg's arm as the younger CSI wanted to walk past him to get out of the locker room. "No, it's okay. I offered it." Nick frowned. He was highly confused over Greg's weird reaction. "If you don't want her to know, I won't tell her, alright? I'll just tell her not to come, she doesn't need an explanation."

Greg gave Nick a look. "It's okay, Nick. I'll ask Sara."

* * *

The day after the attack, Nick and Greg were walking through the lab's halls, discussing a case. "But don't you think it would be better to ask them first?" Greg said before he spotted Simone at the other side of the hallway. He stopped walking.

Nick stopped, too. "I don't know, I think it's better to have the results of the drug test first." He kept on talking about the case before he noticed the rather scared look on Greg's face. "...What's wrong?"

After staring in Simone's direction for a few seconds, he looked back to Nick. "Nothing... I just remembered I forgot my..."

"Nick!" Greg was interrupted by Simone walking up to them. She had a big smile on her face while looking at Nick. When she saw Greg, her smile faded. "Oh my god. What happened to you?"

Greg tried not to let his fear and suspicion show. "...Nothing, I..."

Nick noticed Greg was feeling uncomfortable. He thought it was because he didn't like everybody asking him what happened all the time. "Have you made up your mind about where we want to eat, yet?" Nick asked Simone with a smile, trying to get her attention away from Greg.

Her eyes kept wandering to Greg with a worried and shocked look on her face. "I-I was thinking... maybe Chinese?"

"Sounds great."

"Uhm, Greg... Do you want to join us, maybe?" she asked, much to both men's surprise.

He shook his head. "Thanks, but... No."

"...Are you sure?" She looked over to Nick, giving him a sign to tell him he should try to convince him to change his mind.

"We could eat something else if you're not in the mood for Chinese," Nick suggested.

"No, it's okay. Have fun." He sounded quite aggressive as he walked away.

Nick told Simone to wait for him outside before he ran after Greg. "Hey. Are you alright?"

"Sure, why?"

"Simone's reaching out to you. I'm not sure it's a good idea to turn her offer down."

"...What happens if I do? Is that a threat?"

Nick laughed before he noticed the serious look on Greg's face. "...Of course not. What's going on with you?"

Greg was sure Simone sent these two men to rough him up. He was sure she was threatening him shortly before it happened and now everything sounded like a threat to him. "I'm not turning her down, I'm just not up for company, alright?"

"But Greg..."

He interrupted him. "I don't want to sit in a restaurant with my face looking like that. Everyone will stare at me and I don't need that now."

"...We could order in and eat it in the break room."

Greg gave Nick a look. "Just go without me. I've got work to do."

* * *

Nick and Simone walked back into the lab laughing over a story she just told. "Hey Greg..." she said while walking up to him in the break room. She touched his shoulder while talking to him. "Make sure to join us next time, alright?"

Greg just sat there, bearing Simone's hand resting on his shoulder. He felt highly uncomfortable with this but couldn't tell her. "Yeah, sure," was all he said while he failed at trying to hide the discomfort.

"Great! Well, we'll see each other after work, right?" she asked Nick while walking over to him to kiss.

"Mhm." Nick smiled back at her as he watched her leave. He sat down opposite Greg with a very happy face. "I know you don't like her, but she's great."

Greg nodded as he looked down at his coffee mug.

"You know, she was very sympathetic when I told her what had happened to you..."

"...You told her?! Why?!"

Nick looked rather surprised at him. "She saw your bruises and asked a lot of questions. She felt sorry for you and also apologized for being insensitive the other day when this guy comm..."

Greg interrupted him. "What kind of questions?"

"How you got those bruises. She was really worried."

"...Yeah right..." Greg said under his breath.

Nick gave him a look. "She also asked if your were sleeping at home again."

"...Why would she ask that?" he asked suspiciously, fearing she might want the two guys to come back.

"...Because she offered you to stay at my place for a few days. She wouldn't mind."

Greg laughed rather humorlessly. "And she'd be there, too, right?"

"Yeah, but..."

"No way."

"Come on, Greg. She really feels bad for the way she acted towards you and she wants to make it right."

"You know, that's good for her. But I'm counting the days until she screws up and you two break up." Greg immediately regretted saying this, but just couldn't hold it in anymore.

"...Why are you saying this?" Greg didn't look at Nick when he got off his seat and walked out of the break room, but the older CSI quickly followed him. "I know you don't like her, but I'm falling in love with this girl. You should be happy for me."

Disgust was all that was visible in Greg's bruised face at the moment. He struggled hard with himself, contemplating telling Nick about his suspicions. But without any evidence, would it be a wise choice to do so? "...Tell me you're joking."

"Look, I get that you weren't too fond of her before. But she's trying to change! Why won't you give her a chance?"

Greg didn't answer as he walked into the empty trace lab. "Where the hell's Hodges?"

"Hey."

"He's never there when he should be!" he said frustrated. The frustration obvious didn't come from Hodges' behavior but rather what Nick just said about Simone.

"Stop avoiding me."

"I'm not avoiding you. I just don't have anything left to say to this..."

"...Why are you doing this to me?"

"...I'm not doing anything to you, Nick. Just leave me alone." Greg tried to walk out of the trace lab, but Nick stopped him by grabbing his arm. "...Let me go."

"Is there anything you're not telling me?"

"...What?"

"This isn't anything like you. Since when do you write people off as quickly as that?"

Again, Greg didn't answer. He really wanted to tell Nick badly, but he didn't think it would be a good idea. "...Just let me go." As he took a few steps forward, Nick let go of him with a sad look. He walked out.


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey guys! Next chapter! I'm so glad you're enjoying the story :)**

* * *

"What do you mean, there's no evidence?!" Greg walked up and down Russell's office in anger.

"We checked every knife they touched, the door, the kitchen drawers, everything. There's not a single finger print on it. They must've wiped everything clean."

Greg looked thoughtful as he sat down. "They stuck around for a while before they left. Maybe that's what they were doing then... Wait, but they took my phone. Any chance we can track them down this way?"

Russell shook his head. "It's turned off. Sorry."

Greg sighed. "There's gotta be some way to find them."

"All we have are their shoe prints which were compromised both by yourself and Nick." Russell gave him a sympathetic look. "We'll have to rely on you as soon as we find a suspect. If you can identify them, maybe we'll have a case."

"...That sucks. How are we gonna find them without a single evidence?"

"Is there anything you left out the other day?"

"...What? Why?"

"Well it's not uncommon that victims and witnesses remember some details a few days later, you know. Anything that could help us identify them?"

"...Like what?" Greg was obviously getting very nervous, which made Russell suspicious.

"I don't know, you tell me." The supervisor felt like Nick's suspiciousness was getting contagious, so he reminded himself that it was Greg he was dealing with and that he didn't have a reason to keep anything from them. "Maybe a smell on them, something like that. Anything unusual."

"...No, I don't think so."

Russell sighed a bit. "I'll ask Nick to take a look at my findings, maybe..."

"No! ...Not Nick."

"...Why not?" Russell raised an eyebrow.

"I-I just don't want him... to... work on that case, alright? Just don't let him work on it!"

Russell put his glasses down. "Why not? ...Is he onto something?"

"...What do you mean?"

Russell sighed heavily. "We're moving in circles here. Why don't you tell me what's going on?"

Greg hopped off his seat nervously. "Nothing! Alright? Why am I suddenly the one who's getting interrogated?!"

Russell was getting more and more confused by Greg's behavior, but kept it cool. "Why do you feel like you are?"

"...I-I gotta go! Just keep Nick away from that case!" Greg replied frustrated as he walked out.

* * *

When Nick walked into the DNA lab, Greg was sitting there with a petri dish in his hand, gazing into space. He was obviously lost in his thoughts and didn't notice Nick. The older CSI walked up to him and took the petri dish out of his hand. "Hey."

Greg got startled by him. "Jesus, Nick, you scared me."

Nick smiled. "I know. Why do you think I took this from you?" He handed Greg the petri dish again. "Wouldn't be the first time you dropped something because of me."

Greg nodded smiling. "Well then, thanks for saving this."

"What are you doing in here? Where's Robin?"

"She's called in sick so Russell asked me to fill in for her..."

"...And you were okay with that?"

"Russell doesn't want me out in the field, anyway. And I don't need another kid running away scared from me."

Nick chuckled. "That happened?"

"Yesterday when I was talking to a witness. He had his kid with him."

Greg's face did look scary at the moment, with all the bruises and stitched-up cuts. Nick patted his back. "That sucks."

"So... You've got any evidence for me?"

"I do, I do... But... I was also wondering how you were doing."

Greg shrugged. "I'm okay."

"What were you thinking about when I walked in?"

If only Greg could tell him. All he could think of lately was Simone and her possible involvement in the beating. "Nothing, really." He faked a smile.

Nick knew Greg for years and after such a long time, both men could tell when the other one was hiding something. "Do you sleep well?"

Greg nodded, but he really didn't. And Nick could tell. Both on Greg's exhausted eyes and the look on his face right now.

"Are you feeling a little depressed, maybe?"

"Why are you asking?" Greg was uncomfortable right now. The more questions Nick asked, the more he could find out about Greg's suspicions towards Simone, he thought.

"Because I care. I guess I feel kind of responsible for..."

Greg quickly interrupted him. "...Re-responsible? Why? You're not!"

Nick looked surprised and confused. "But I do feel like I'm responsible for your well-being. We're friends."

Greg calmed down a bit. "...Right. I'm feeling good, alright? No need to worry about me."

Nick nodded with a worried look. "I wish I could believe you." Nick kept on talking about how he worried about Greg and that he hoped he'd talk to him more until his phone rang. "...That's Simone. I'll call her back later."

"No! No... Just take it. It's okay, I need to get back to work, anyway..." Greg sighed in relief as Nick left the lab to take Simone's call. Not being able to tell Nick the truth was getting harder each time he asked him questions about the attack.

* * *

"Hey Jim." The next day, Nick walked up to the detective sitting at his desk.

"Nick, nice to see you. What can I do for you?" Brass smiled at him.

"I need a warrant on my case." He handed him the files. "We have enough reason to believe the guy's hiding something."

"Sure, I'll get to it."

"Thanks." Nick turned around to leave.

"Oh Nicky, wait. Could you do me a favor and get these to Russell?" He handed him some files, too.

* * *

On his way inside the crime lab, Nick took a look inside the files Brass had just handed him. They belonged to Greg's case and he was curious if they had made any progress he wasn't informed about yet. Instead, he found something else of interest.

* * *

"...That's one of the guys? That's who beat you up?!" Nick smashed a sketched mug shot in front of Greg on the table in the break room.

Greg startled. He looked at it. "...Yeah, I think so. Why?"

"Are you sure about that?"

"I think he loo..."

Nick interrupted him. "Are you sure?!"

"...Why are you yelling at me?"

"I know this guy and you do, too!"

"...What? No, I don't."

"Your mind must be playing tricks on you. It couldn't have been him!"

Greg got off of his seat. "What are you talking about? Whoever he is, he looked something like that."

"...Oh yeah? Looks an awful lot like Chuck, don't you think?"

"Who's Chuck?"

Nick gave him a look. "Oh like you don't know. Simone's ex-boyfriend!"

"...What?"

"You've met him at her birthday party, remember?"

Greg thought about it for a moment. "I wasn't invited to her birthday party."

"No, you were there."

"...Uh no, I wasn't. I didn't even know about it. It's the first time I hear about that party."

"...What? No, you..." Now it was Nick who was thinking about it for a moment. "You weren't?"

"She hates me, Nick. Why would she want me at her party?"

"...Then when did you meet him?"

"**I **never did. But my face met his fist the other day, if that's what you're asking." Greg walked out of the room, steering towards Russell's office.

"Wait. Where are you going?" Nick followed.

"I need to tell Russell about this. We finally identified one of them."

Nick stopped Greg from walking by grabbing his shoulder and turning him around to face him. "Greg, wait! Just wait a second! Let me talk to Simone first, okay?"

He thought about it for a moment, but then shook his head. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"Please. Maybe she knows something."

"...I'm sure she does," Greg said under his breath.

"...What do you mean by that?"

"Nevermind..."

"Greg, you can't accuse Simone's ex! He didn't do it!"

Greg stared at Nick disbelieving. "If you recognized him on this sketch then he did it."

"He's a nice guy, I'm sure it was someone who looks a bit like him or something..."

"Nick!" Greg ripped the sketch out of his hand. "This is the guy who attacked me! I'll tell Russell that I believe it's Simone's ex-boyfriend and we'll bring him in!"

"No!" Nick still had a grip around Greg's shoulder.

Russell heard them yell outside so he decided to check what was going on. "What are you guys doing? Nick, get your hands off of him."

Nick did while giving Greg an annoyed look. "He was still in shock when I arrived. He doesn't know what he saw!"

"...Don't you dare trying to blame this on me! I wasn't in shock, I was trying to protect you!" Greg yelled annoyed while rubbing his shoulder.

"Protect me from what?" Nick laughed humorlessly.

"I didn't want you to know what your girlfriend did without having actual proof, you jerk!"

"What does she have to do with this?!"

"What, you think it's a coincidence her ex beat me up?"

"...He didn't!"

Russell was getting a bit overwhelmed by the situation. "Okay, okay... Everybody calm down. Let's take this into my office."


	9. Chapter 9

**Yay, a new chapter! :)**

* * *

"I don't believe it. She would never do something like that." Nick shook his head quite hastily. "You're wrong."

"Greg..." Russell rubbed his forehead. "Why do you think Simone has something to do with this? Is it just because Nick recognized Chuck?"

Greg shook his head. "No... I suspected this the whole time."

"The whole time?" Nick gave Greg a look. "You thought she hired two guys to beat you up for days and didn't care to say a word?"

"...You're surprised by that? Look at your reaction. You don't even believe me!"

"You're right, I don't. I think you hate her and want to believe she did this."

Russell gave Nick a look before turning back to Greg. "Is that what you meant when you told Nick you didn't want to report the beating at first? Because you thought it would get Simone in trouble?"

Greg nodded with a sad look. "I didn't know what to do. I figured keeping this from you guys was the best decision."

Nick got off his seat and started walking up and down inside the office. "So now what? Are you going to interrogate Chuck?" When Russell nodded, Nick went on. "Great. That's just great. Things between Simone and me start getting better and now this."

Russell gave him a look again. "Would you just shut up? This isn't about you."

This made Nick calm down a bit. He sat down again. "I'm sorry, Greg. I don't mean it like that. I just won't believe Simone or Chuck have anything to do with the beating until there's some proof."

* * *

Greg was able to give a positive identification on Chuck Wilde. He was certain he was one of the two men that had attacked him. The less aggressive one, that is. Right now, Brass was just casually asking Chuck about his alibi and if he knew Greg, stuff like that. Of course he claimed he didn't and that he had an alibi, but it was quite obvious he was lying. It became more evident, though, when Greg walked into the interrogation room.

Chuck instantly looked quite uncomfortable and confused. "...What the hell's going on?"

"Oh, you remember him?" Brass asked while Greg sat down next to the detective without saying a word.

Chuck couldn't help but stare at Greg's I.D. tag. "...You're a CSI?!"

Brass chuckled. "Oh, didn't she tell you that?"

* * *

"He swore he was telling the truth." Nick tried to convince Greg that Chuck was innocent as they were sitting in Brass' office together with Russell. "Simone isn't involved!"

"And he wouldn't be the first criminal to do so but was lying in the end, now, would he?" Greg tried to stay calm, but Nick's naivety made it hard for him not to get aggressive. "Nick, you weren't there. You don't know..." Greg shook his head. "It's ridiculous. He knows you, how could he mistake me with you?" Chuck had claimed that he was jealous of Nick and that he wanted to beat him up instead of Greg. He claimed that he had heard Simone mention the address, believing it was Nick's.

"I don't know, maybe he's bad with faces. It's not like we talked all that much."

Brass gave Nick a look. "Is your heart really blinding you that badly? He's straight-out lying and we can't fall for that. He's trying to protect Simone."

"I think they're right, Nick. Why else would one of them have said that 'she told them he'd cry' ?" Russell asked.

"...What are you talking about?" Nick stared at Greg.

Russell looked surprised. "You haven't told him?"

"No... I haven't, I..." Greg was obviously very uncomfortable right now.

"They said that?" Nick asked with surprise in his voice.

* * *

Nick was slowly believing Greg. He was still hoping that Greg was wrong, but he now realized that it was a possibility that Simone had asked her ex-boyfriend to go beat Greg up. It was a horrible thought for Nick, though, and he couldn't figure out a reason she did that.

They were both in the break room, sipping on their coffee while Brass was talking to Simone. Neither one of the two could bear to be there and watch when he did, so they tried to keep themselves distracted.

Greg was nervously tapping his thumb on the table. "I'm really sorry, Nick. It wasn't an easy decision for me..."

"What do you mean?" Nick put his coffee mug down.

"Reporting it."

Nick laughed humorlessly. "What else were you supposed to do? Claim you had fallen down the stairs?"

The younger CSI shrugged as he got off his seat to put his mug away. "I don't know. Take a few weeks off until the bruises faded." He smiled at Nick. "I wanted to tell myself that it couldn't have been Simone, but..." He stopped talking when Nick got off his seat and walked over to him. He was still a little bit shaken after the attack, so he took a step back when Nick came closer.

He gave Greg a long, tight hug without saying a word for a moment. "Don't apologize. You did nothing wrong."

* * *

An hour later, when the mood between Nick and Greg was lighting up again and they actually kept themselves distracted, Simone stormed in. "What the **hell** did you do?! Are you out of your mind, telling them I had something to do with your beating?!"

Greg gave her an angry look without saying a word. He'd know a lot of things to say to her, but wanted to keep his composure, so he just listened.

"Had I known what kind of person you are... I wish I had told them to beat you up! You deserve it!"

Nick stepped between the two. "Hey! I think that's enough! What do you think you're doing?"

"Oh, now that's surprising! You take his side! Why don't you two take a hotel room and get it over with already?"

* * *

Nick lead her outside the break room. "Why are you doing this, Simone?" He gave her an annoyed look.

"Don't you see what he's trying to do? He wants to get rid of me so that he's got you all by himself again! He's crazy!"

"...Really? Because I know him much longer than I know you and I think I would've noticed by now if he was crazy."

"Can't you see?! He probably hired Chuck himself!" Simone kept yelling. She wasn't gonna calm down anytime soon.

"Oh come on, that's ridiculous. He didn't even know him."

"Yeah, so he says. Whatever. **I** have nothing to do with his beating. I swear!"

* * *

Nick walked back inside with an exhausted look on his face. "I'm sorry for that."

Greg shook his head. "Not your fault."

"I'm gonna head out now, I... I can't be here any longer."

"...Are you going back to her place?"

Nick looked surprised - almost shocked - at Greg before he chuckled and shook his head. "I'm still not convinced she hired Chuck for the beating, but... I don't trust her anymore."

* * *

The next few days were quite emotionally straining for Greg. The police, especially Brass, did their best to find out more from Chuck. They offered him great deals in case he wanted to rat out Simone and his partner in crime, but he refused to do so. Instead, he hired one of the best lawyers in Nevada. Since they didn't have any physical evidence to link him to the beating – let alone Greg's apartment in general - it was hard to prove anything. All they had was Greg's testimony which, of course, was questionable for many reasons. The lawyer argued that Greg had seen Chuck on some pictures before and was just filling in the familiar face, like many witnesses do. Although Greg had seen him on some pictures, but couldn't even remember it, he knew it was him who attacked him. The testimony Chuck gave them, where he claimed he was just jealous of Nick and mistook him for Greg, was invalid since the lawyer claimed they had pressured Chuck into saying it. It didn't make much sense the way Chuck explained it, which only gave the lawyer more possibilities to fight it. Of course Chuck was guilty, but for now, the CSIs had no chance to prove it.

Greg's desperation was very visible to anyone who ran into him these days but everybody knew that there wasn't much they could do to help. Him and Nick were on their way to a crime scene when the older CSI's cell phone started ringing. He sighed. "Her again..."

"Maybe you shouldn't have broken up with her..." Greg said discouraged as they entered a house.

"What? Why would you say something like that?" Nick looked at Greg confused.

"Well you know, what if she really doesn't have anything to do with the beating? It would be a shame if I had ruined the relationship and she's innocent."

Nick wasn't sure how to reply to that. He was, after all, having thoughts like that, too. "It's not just that. The way she reacted after Brass questioned her, you know?" He shrugged. "It showed her true colors and I didn't like what I saw. You didn't ruin the relationship. She did." He patted Greg's back as they walked up to David, already bent over the dead bodies.

* * *

They were standing around the dead body while David explained what had happened to the poor soul. Brass walked up to them. "I have a pretty impatient witness waiting for one of you to talk to," he said while looking at Nick.

"I'll do it." Greg stepped a few steps towards Brass.

"...Are you sure, Greg?" Nick asked surprised. "Because your face..."

Greg had forgotten about his bruised face for a moment. "Right... Well, I'll do it, anyway."

"If you aren't comfortable with working on the body you could check out the exterior..."

"I said I'll do it, alright?" Greg was getting a bit annoyed although he knew Nick only meant well. He would've loved to back out at this point, but his pride didn't let him.

Nick turned around to the body again as he rolled his eyes, while Brass walked out of the house with Greg.

* * *

Greg and Brass stepped out of the house in Henderson. Dozens of nosy neighbors were standing around the police line, dying to take a peek into the house that now was a crime scene. While Brass lead Greg to where the witness was, he got approached by one of the bystanders. "Detective! Detective, it's important! Please!"

"...He's right over there, Greg." Brass pointed in the direction they were headed. "Are you fine on your own?"

"Sure." Greg gave him a smile before walking off.

* * *

"Mr. Hudson? I'm Greg Sanders. Can you tell me what happened?" Greg approached the witness.

The witness, Mr. Hudson, turned around. "Nice to meet you." He reached out his hand for Greg to shake it, but the CSI didn't. Instead, he stood there with shock and terror in his eyes. Frozen up, unable to move for a moment. "...Are you alright?" Hudson gave him a confused smile.

Greg's heart started racing as he looked around quite helplessly. He had lost sight of Brass although the detective was just a few steps away from him. "...What are you doing here?"

"Mr. Sanders, what's wrong?" Hudson asked.

"I-I... You're the witness?" he stuttered. "...Brass!"

"Do you maybe need to sit down or something? You're looking pale."

"Brass!" Greg yelled again. The fear was clearly audible in his voice. He took a few steps back and put his shaking hand on his gun.

The detective finally heard him and rushed over to him. "What's wrong?" He noticed Greg's defensive body language and that he had his hand on his gun.

"...Arrest him," he whispered.

"What? What's going on? He's our witness, isn't he?"

"He's the other one... You need to arrest him."


	10. Chapter 10

**Thanks again for the Reviews, Followers and Favorites! Love you guys!**

* * *

Mr. Hudson was sitting in the interrogation room all alone for almost half an hour now. He looked impatient but not very nervous when Brass, Russell and Nick walked in.

"Finally! Would someone please tell me what's going on?"

"Mr. Hudson, do you know this woman?" Brass handed her a picture of Simone.

Hudson looked at it. "I don't know, I don't think so. I already told you, I didn't see their faces."

"What is he talking about?" Nick asked annoyed.

"The murder in Henderson. I saw three people walk out of the house after I heard the screams, but I didn't see any faces."

"...This isn't about the murder."

"Then what's this about?"

Brass didn't like Nick's approach in this situation. "How about him?" He handed Hudson a picture of Chuck.

"No, sorry. I wish I could help you."

"What were you doing last Wednesday?" Nick chimed in again.

"...Excuse me?" Hudson raised an eyebrow.

"Last Wednesday afternoon! Where were you?" The CSI was starting to get aggressive.

Hudson sighed annoyed. "I was at the movies with a friend." He got a movie ticket out of his wallet and put it on the table. "Shitty seats but it was a good movie."

Russell leaned in to Nick to whisper to him. "The movie started at 4 p.m., they were already in the apartment at that time."

"Look, I'll gladly tell you everything I've seen today, maybe it'll help you. But it's late, I'm tired and I want to go home. So if there's nothing else you need from me..."

"Just hold on a minute." Nick gave him an angry look. "We'll have to talk to the friend you went to the movies with."

* * *

Russell, Nick and Brass discussed what just happened in the interrogation room while they waited for Hudson's friend to arrive. "Look, if he's guilty he's probably the most relaxed perp I've ever seen. He doesn't seem to be scared or nervous that we're onto him at all," Brass explained.

"So what? Greg was simply wrong?" Nick rolled his eyes frustrated.

"You thought so when he suspected Chuck."

Nick gave Brass a look. "I didn't really mean it and you know it. Greg seemed so sure with Hudson."

"But victims see their attackers in the wrong people all the time..."

"Yeah but not Greg. He's a CSI, he knows how dangerous it is to accuse someone without being sure."

"It's not that I think Greg was careless with his identification. I'm sure he** is** sure now. It's real for him, whether or not it's true."

"Great..." Nick rubbed his forehead. "So that's what we're going to tell him?"

"Let's just wait and see if his alibi checks out."

* * *

Hudson's friend confirmed his alibi. They had nothing except Greg's word to rely on, so they weren't able to do much background checking on Hudson. Even if they would be able to do so, they wouldn't find much. Hudson was very much guilty – he did beat up Greg – but didn't leave much trace behind. He never met Simone and only knew Chuck through a friend. And the way he behaved in the police station gave them no reason to believe he was actually guilty.

"Greg, I'm afraid I have some bad news..." Nick volunteered to break the news to Greg. They both sat down in the break room. "It looks like Hudson is innocent."

"...So you're saying this guy isn't the one who beat me up?"

"He has an alibi and was acting very cool as we interrogated him."

"What kind of an alibi? Do you got him on film somewhere?"

"No, but he was with a friend at the time."

"And how do you know his friend's not lying for him?"

"He didn't give us that impression."

"...So that's all it takes these days?"

"Greg, what do you want me to say? Until we get some hard evidence we have to consider this guy not guilty."

"But I **know** it's him!"

"But it looks like it isn't."

"Nick, I've seen his face long enough to know what he looks like. It's him."

"But they hit you on the head and the eye. Your sight might've been impaired."

"No it wasn't. I was seeing clearly, why can't you believe me?"

"It's not that I think you're lying, Greg..."

"No. It's just that this gives you perfect opportunity to question Simone's involvement, right? I was wrong once, might as well be wrong with Chuck's sketch."

"That's not what this is about."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course! Greg, do you think I want him to go free if he did it? We simply don't have any evidence to hold him. They're gonna have to let him walk. Believing he's innocent helps me feel better about this."

Greg shook his head rather desperate. "Well at least one of us feels good about this."

* * *

Greg wasn't totally wrong with what he said about Nick. He did feel that if Greg was wrong with Hudson, he could've been wrong with Chuck, too, although the interrogation told otherwise. It was a very confusing time for Nick. He decided to talk to Simone about Hudson, hoping to get some clarity out of it. Things only got more confusing for him, though.

Greg knew that Nick went to talk to Simone about it although he asked him not to. Nick was in a very emotionally unstable state lately so Greg was worried that things could go out of hand and that Nick and Simone would end up fighting. His mind started wandering off, playing several scenarios of what they were doing right now. He had no idea how far off he really was. He was sitting in the DNA lab, waiting for Robin to come back from her break when his cell phone rang. "Nick, where are you?"

"_Turn your head to the right."_

"...Why are we talking over the phone when you're in the lab?" Greg asked, looking outside the DNA lab to find Nick standing there waving.

"_You'll see in a moment." _Greg was about to get off his seat. _"Don't get up! Just listen."_

"...Okay." Greg had a wary smile on his face.

"_I just come back from Simone's."_

"You've been away for almost four hours. I was worried, why didn't you call or text me or something?"

"_I was busy. I'm sorry."_

"So how'd it go?"

"_Well, we talked a lot... She still claims she didn't have anything to do with the beating and she wanted me to tell you she's sorry for yelling at you the other day."_

"Uh-huh. Anything significant that happened, too?" Greg asked unimpressed. An apology from a person like her didn't mean anything to him anymore.

"_Okay, here it goes... Talking wasn't all we did, you know?"_

"She didn't attack you or anything, did she?"

Nick couldn't help but chuckle in desperation. Greg didn't make this any easier for him. _"No. No... It was all very... civilised, I guess. I can't really explain to you how... it happened... or why but... We kind of had... you know... a physical... encounter..."_

Greg was silent on the other end of the line, but it was clearly visible his face impression slowly changed while Nick told him he had sex with Simone.

"_Before you say anything... Let me just tell you that I didn't plan it and... That I'm sorry and..."_ Nick watched Greg approach the door, so he decided to walk away. _"...I know that there's nothing that can make my actions undone and I feel both sad and ashamed and..."_ He started gaining speed. _"And I hope you're mature enough to accept my apology and won't hate me for the rest of my life for it!"_ Nick put his cell phone away and ran down the stairs to pathology in an attempt to hide from his friend.


	11. Chapter 11

**We're getting closer to the last chapter!**

* * *

Nick hid down in pathology for a whole hour before walking back into the lab, ready to face Greg. He walked into the break room, where Greg was sitting in silence, sipping on his coffee. "...Hey," he said while walking to the coffee machine. "I hope I gave you enough time to cool off."

Greg looked up to Nick for a second before looking back in his cup.

"Look, I know you're angry and... probably also disappointed. I just need you to understand that I in no way planned this. It just happened."

"And how exactly does this make it any better?"

"Oh come on. I don't know how it happened, it just did..."

"Why did you go there in the first place?!"

"To get her to tell the truth! I needed to hear it from her."

Greg rolled his eyes. "And how did you go from a discussion like that to her bedroom?"

"She claimed she had nothing to do with it but I kept telling her to confess. She eventually started crying and swore on her grandmother's grave that she'd never do something like that..."

"And that turned you on so much that you decided to just go ahead and do it?" He gave Nick a look.

"No. It was just an emotional moment for both of us and..."

"Jesus, Nick! Stop talking about it! I don't need all the details." Greg put his cup down annoyed.

"Listen, man. I can't explain it, I don't understand it myself. I just need you to forgive me."

"...Do you still believe that she's responsible for the beating?"

"Of course," Nick replied quite insincerely. He was struggling again to accept that fact.

Greg got off his seat. "Oh shut up. I don't believe you. Here I was, waiting for you, worried sick that something bad might've happened! I pictured Chuck and the other guy being there, too, and beating you up like they did me. Feels really stupid, now that I know what really happened." He walked out of the room.

* * *

Nick ran after him. "I said I'm sorry!"

"Yeah and I don't care. She dragged you onto her side again. I'm back to having to convince you that she's an evil monster again."

"No, Greg, I..."

"...You know what? No. I don't need to convince you of anything. I'm done! I don't care if you believe me or not. I don't care if you're dating her or not!"

"Would you shut up for a moment? You don't have to convince me of anything. I know that she hired them to beat you up!"

"You say you do but you really don't. But it doesn't matter, anyway. They'll get away with it. You'll get back together with her and I'm stuck with this!" he said, pointing at his beat-up face.

"Come on, Greg! Don't be that way! Why are you making this so hard for me?"

"It's not hard, you idiot. It's simple! Who do you believe? Me or her?"

Nick sighed. "You, of course. This didn't mean anything, you have to believe me."

"If only **you'd** believe it, Nick."

* * *

"There." Nick threw his cell phone in front of Greg, who was sitting at the break room's table the next day.

"...It's a nice phone, but I got me a new one already, you know."

"No, stupid. Check the contacts."

"For what?" Greg picked the phone up and started looking through the contacts.

"I deleted Simone's number."

Greg looked up surprised.

"She's gone, alright?" He sat down opposite Greg. "I know this doesn't make what happened yesterday undone, but I hope it shows you that I'm serious. I'm on your side, I believe you and I **know** that Simone is responsible for the beating."

The younger CSI gave him a soft smile. "Thanks..."

"I know we can't prove anything at the moment, but..." Nick stared at his cell phone as he stopped talking.

"...What is it?"

"You said you got a new phone."

"Yeah. They stole mine, remember?"

"I do..." Nick looked thoughtful. "Hudson's phone was the same as your old one... Dammit! Why didn't I notice that before?!"

"...Are you sure?"

"Now that I think about it... He only took it out once although he received a few text messages while he talked to us. I thought he was just being polite but... Maybe there was more to it."

* * *

They brought Hudson back in, claiming they needed to ask him more about the case he was a witness in. They let him wait in the lobby for quite some time while they watched him, waiting for him to get his phone out of his pocket. It didn't take long until he did.

"Nice phone you got there." Brass walked up to him together with Nick. "Mind if I take a look?" He grabbed it out of his hand.

"...Actually I do," Hudson replied rather nervously. It was the first time they've seen him act nervous.

Brass took a very good look at the phone before handing it over to Nick who was already wearing gloves. "Relax, you have nothing to worry about, right?" He grinned at Hudson.

Nick took a good look at the phone. There were some pretty unique scratches on the phone that made it evident it was Greg's phone. Archie would later confirm that. "Where did you get my friend's phone?"

"What are you talking about?" Hudson asked. "A friend gave it to me, my old one is broken."

"Yeah? We'd like to talk to that friend, too. But in the meantime, how about we have a chat?" Brass walked Hudson to the interrogation room.

* * *

The friend Hudson told them about was actually the same guy that connected him to Chuck. Hudson did this on purpose, hoping to get the CSI's focus off of him and onto Chuck. It worked more or less, the CSI's got reason to talk to Chuck again, but they were still very much interested in Hudson. Unfortunate for them, the phone was all they got from him. He never even hinted at being guilty, kept his cool all the time and had a very plausible explanation of how he got his hands on Greg's phone. It incriminated Chuck, but they didn't have any evidence against him, either. He claimed he had found the phone and thanks to his brilliant lawyer got away with that explanation.

Neither one of the three partners in crime would ever get sentenced for conspiring to violently beat up Greg.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Nick asked Greg for the fifth time today as Nick closed his locker.

"I am!" Greg chuckled as he tied his shoes, sitting on a bench in the locker room. "Sometimes we just have to accept that justice doesn't always win. It sucks but it is what it is."

"And you're sure you don't want to hang out today?"

The younger CSI shook his head. "We can do that another time. I just want to go home, take a shower and go to bed."

Nick nodded. "So you're able to sleep well again?"

Greg never admitted to having insomnia but he did since the beating. It was getting better in the last few days but would get worse again now that it was clear that Simone and her friends would not have to go to prison. "I am, so don't worry about me, alright? Just enjoy your day." Greg patted Nick on the back as he smiled at him. "See you tomorrow."


	12. Chapter 12

**Here goes the last chapter! I really hope you guys enjoyed the story! Since it's somewhat inspired by my life (my best friends boyfriend seems to be a bit jealous, too ;) ) it really means a lot to me. So please let me know what you think about the story! Now have fun finding out how it all works out!**

**Big Love,**

**pikapikatchu**

* * *

Since Nick didn't make any other plans for this day, he decided to do something long overdue.

"Nick, what are you doing here?" Simone asked surprised as he opened her door.

"Mind if I come in?" he asked while walking in. "We need to talk."

"How more often will I have to hear that sentence?" She rolled her eyes.

"Last time, I promise." Nick sat down on the couch. "I just need to know why. Why did you want Chuck and Hudson to beat up Greg? He never did anything to you."

"Again? Come on, Nick. I didn't. I have no idea what happened that day and I'm not sure I want to."

"You owe me the truth! There's no physical evidence to even suggest either one of you was involved, you did it, alright? You got away with the perfect crime! Congratulations! And now tell me why! Why did you want to hurt him?"

"Nick..." Simone had a very sad look on her face. "Can't you just let this go? Just be glad worse things didn't happen to him..."

"Are you serious? My girlfriend hires two guys to beat my best friend up and you're telling me I should be glad he didn't die?!"

Tears were starting to fall down her cheeks. "You have to believe me, I never wanted any of this to happen... they were just supposed to..." she stopped herself. "You should better go now."

"They were supposed to do what? Tell me!" Nick couldn't help but yell at her, which only caused her to cry harder.

"They were just supposed to scare him a little!" she finally admitted. "I never wanted them to hurt him! I just wanted them to threaten him."

Nick couldn't stop the tears from falling down his face now, either. "But why?"

"Please don't tell anyone! I can't go to jail for this! I didn't want this!" She sat down next to him and started putting her hands on him, but Nick, rather forcefully, pushed her away.

"Why did you want to threaten him? What did he ever do to you?!"

"Because he was ruining everything!" she shouted as she got off the couch again. "He didn't approve of our relationship for some reason! You even told me he was trying to find some dirt on me to break us up! I couldn't let that happen! He kept on sticking his nose in our business and it seemed like he was succeeding! You became distant, even less available than before! I felt trapped and asked Chuck for advice..."

"So now you're gonna tell me it was Chuck's idea?" Nick was hurting more than he thought he ever could right now. Greg was trying to warn him, he kept on telling him Simone was crazy but he never would listen. If he had, he believed now, none of this would've happened. But Nick had trusted Simone and his trust was getting crushed by her words right now.

"No! Well, yeah, kind of... He told me about this friend of his, Hudson. He used to be a bouncer and looked very intimidating, so I asked Chuck to take Hudson to Greg's place and scare him a little... Just to keep him distracted from us for a little while. But I didn't tell them to touch him, I swear!"

"...Well did you tell them **not **to?"

Simone didn't answer, but the look on her face did it for her.

"How stupid are you?! Have you even met Hudson before?!"

"Of course not."

"...And still you're willing to trust him with something like that?"

"I really am sorry! My reaction when I saw Greg's face was genuine! I was deeply shocked." She sobbed. "I felt sorry for him, I swear."

"Feeling sorry doesn't cut it, Simone! You should stand up for what you did, help get Hudson and Chuck imprisoned!"

"I can't do that, Nick! Chuck's my friend! He didn't want Greg to get hurt, either. It was Hudson who did most of the damage. He's crazy or something..."

"Only one more reason to help us!"

She hastily shook her head. "Nobody can ever know."

"Oh they will! I'll tell everybody!"

Nick expected Simone to go mad now, but instead she put on a very serious face. "And who's going to listen? There's no evidence, you said it yourself. Chuck has one of the best lawyers in town and I'll hire him, too."

Nick looked a bit surprised over her calculated reaction. "I think it's worth a try."

"Yeah? Did you guys take pictures of Greg's bed?"

Nick raised an eyebrow. "What are you getting at?"

"People around the lab talk. A lot. To anyone, I guess, because I know a lot more about Greg than him or you were ever willing to tell me."

"...What the **hell** are you talking about?"

"I think you know damn well what I'm talking about. I don't think Greg would appreciate the press coverage. What if those pictures you took of the bed will leak? I don't think there's many people who wouldn't assume he got raped, right?"

Nick got off his seat and stormed over to her, coming at her in a quite threatening manner, causing her to take a few steps back. There were many things to say to her on his mind right now, but he couldn't get the words out. He was too angry, disappointed and shocked over her behavior.

Simone pushed him back. "Get out of my apartment, asshole!"

Nick turned around and walked towards the door. He stopped before leaving to turn around to her again. "You know the funny thing is... Our relationship was at no point endangered. I don't listen to what other people say, not even Greg. I kept defending you until there was just no way you were innocent. I don't think there's anything I'll ever regret as much. We could've had a future together but **you** blew it."

* * *

Confronting Simone like that didn't feel nearly as good as Nick expected it to be. He had spent the last two hours driving around town, making up his mind on how he wanted to deal with the situation. He had finally made a decision he felt kind of comfortable with and decided to get it over with. He knocked on Greg's door.

"...Nick." Greg looked quite surprised. "I thought we agreed to..." He noticed Nick's reddened eyes. "...What's wrong?"

Nick walked in. He had calmed down a lot in the last two hours but was still very emotionally charged. "I thought about protecting you from this... but then I talked myself into believing it would be better not to patronize you but... the truth is, I need you right now."

Greg gave Nick a soft smile as the two sat down on the couch. "So you talked to Simone?"

"Yeah..." The tears started falling down Nick's face again.

"What did she say?"

Nick was hesitant to tell Greg all the horrible things she said, despite having planned to do so on the drive over here.

"I know that face. It's your_ 'I need to shelter everyone from everything bad'_ face." Greg chuckled. "But you see this?" He pointed at his face. "That's my _'I want to take some of your baggage off of you'_ face."

Nick laughed and shook his head. "I did a bad job at sheltering you from Simone."

"So did I. I want to protect you from bad stuff, too, but sometimes it's out of our hands."

"Yeah but at least you tried. All I did was defend her when it was obvious to anybody else that she was guilty."

Both men sat in silence for a while before Nick finally filled in Greg on everything Simone said to him. Nick was scared to death about how Greg would take this information, but he did surprisingly well.

He just sat there being supportive as he listened. For the rest of the talk, both men ignored the criminal actions of Simone and instead concentrated on the fact that the relationship didn't work out and the pain Nick was feeling. Pain over a failed relationship he put a lot of hope in. Both were feeling much better as the talk went along, there was a lot both needed to get off their chests. They somehow managed to end up talking about something else, and for the first time since Greg got attacked, both CSIs were able to laugh again and have fun together.

* * *

Ende.


End file.
